Collaboration Revs Results

Bantering ideas back and forth triggered new insights for me and four other leaders around around the table.  Innovative possibilities spoken helped us see past familiar approaches to consider the experimental.  At times ideas were spoken so quickly it was hard to keep up!

Intellectual bantering takes energy and focus. Intellectual bantering led all of us to shape a new product based on joint input. How does that happen?

The session was disruptive since we named insights as we experienced "ahas."  Ellen Weber introduced a "Talking Stick," with the rule that the person holding the stick was the only one who could speak. But we blurted our "ahas," bypassing the rules.  Sharing novel ideas before "losing them" seemed a priority. The talking stick just didn't work this time around. Brains in high gear can't easily be reigned in.  Our disruptive session resulted in plans for an innovative product.

Why does unconventionality work?

New Associations Since the five of us were from unrelated fields, we came with a variety of questions, other than those usually asked.  Our perspectives were vastly different and from the onset, we knew our brains approached problems uniquely.

Novelty Three leaders outside our field, with different talents, knowledge and experience came at what we do at the Mita Brain Center with very unique suggestions... completely outside our box. Our brains leaped to possibilities with new targets in mind.

Pull While it's so easy to default to favorite approaches or wisdom learned along the way, we were forced by the "pull" to sail in new seas. Visiting leaders introduced us to The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion, by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison. We continually challenged one another, leading us to rely on working memory throughout the session.  The working memory, holds very few bits of new information.  I outsourced ideas by jotting them down so I could research them more after our session.

Energy Each one of us came to the table with a passion to innovate.  As the team kept firing questions, we explored possibilities for a joint product.  Through this framework, the five of us considered what's broken in bureaucracies to develop a tangible product that's needed.

Shape Future meetings are on the docket, and we look forward to reviewing initial blueprints.  We've exchanged several emails wondering how this or that piece might be helpful.   Big ideas were shaping themselves, prepping us for our next meeting.

The human brain comes wired for cooperation.  Getting together with leaders outside our field launched a mutual dance.  Beginning steps carried the rhythm of promise.  Now we anticipate next steps together and where this leads.